"DAVID IN HIS TROUBLES PROFESSES QUIET TRUST IN HIS COVENANT GOD."

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 121:1,2
Psalm 32:1
Psalm 4:3
Psalm 3:1,2,3,4
Hymn 49:1,2

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

We’re told in our text that David ‘lay down and slept’, and in due time ‘awoke’ again. We sense in the words of our text a quietness, a serenity, that makes us just a bit jealous. To lie down and fall asleep: that suggests that there’s not a cloud in the sky, not a problem troubling the mind. We’d love that sort of serenity, of peace…. But –in the brokenness of the lives we live- it just doesn’t seem real….

At least, that’s the way we feel. But the Lord God, my brothers and sisters, would have us know that the same serenity and quietness may characterize the lives –including the nights– of all God’s people all the time. No, not that we’ll sleep as soon as we hit the pillow; different people have different constitutions. But Jesus Christ has paid for sin, and so the God of the covenant is our caring and faithful Father. David experienced the peace-of-soul that comes with that gospel, and we can enjoy that peace also. I summarize the sermon with this theme:

1. The surprise of David’s quiet trust
2. The cause of David’s quiet trust
3. The lesson of David’s quiet trust

The words of our text describe a particular night and morning in the life of king David. He’d gone to bed one evening, slept, awakened in the morning, and put to paper the thoughts that filled his mind that morning. For our part, then, we want to know what sort of a situation David was in when he went to bed. What was so special about that night he describes? Why did he fell asleep? Why does he say that he awoke because the Lord sustained him?

David’s circumstances on that night when he went to sleep are recorded for us in the title given to Ps 3. We’re told that this psalm dates from the time "when he fled from Absalom his son." The details of that fleeing are recorded for us in II Sam 15, 16 and 17 – chapters you may want to read in their entirety at home. The thing is that David’s son Absalom coveted his father’s throne, and so gathered around him a group of devoted followers who declared him king. The upstart Absalom and his numerous followers then marched on Jerusalem, where father David had his palace. When news of the rebellion reached David, he decided to flee the city to get away from Absalom and his sword. With tears David and all those loyal to him left the city and headed off for the wilderness in the direction of the Jordan River.

And if fleeing from son Absalom wasn’t bad enough, reports later filtered through to David that his trusted advisor Ahithophel had betrayed him and sided with Absalom (15:31). Mephibosheth the son of Saul, to whom David had granted a daily place of honor at the royal table, was reported as having stayed in Jerusalem in the hope of becoming king now that David had fled (16:3). More, as David made his way to the wilderness, another of Saul’s kinsmen named Shimei came out to curse David, throw stones at him, and abuse him (16:5ff). Later that same day, word arrived via spies that David had better cross the river Jordan very quickly, for Absalom had given orders for all the people of Israel to gather together in order to fight David and kill him (17:16). It all came down to this: David was very much a hunted man, rejected by the people, betrayed by his own son, despised as a dog.

The book of Samuel tells us how David responded to the bad news that came his way. He and the people with him spent their first night out of Jerusalem crossing the river Jordan under cover of darkness. The next day, David and his followers marched off to the town of Mahanaim, a day’s march away (17:24), and set up camp. It’s now after his first night in Mahanaim that David wrote the psalm before us this morning.

And see: what’s he say in this psalm? Vs 5: "I lay down and slept." And really, brothers and sisters, we’re surprised! He’d been betrayed in the last couple of days by such trusted persons as Ahithophel and Mephibosheth – let alone by his own son. And tomorrow there’s a good chance his son with the armies of Israel would arrive to kill David…. We’d expect that he’d be so hurt and bothered by such disappointment and betrayal that he’d roam the hallways of his house like a bear with a sore head, and if he went to bed he’d toss and turn and be out again. But see: he went to bed, and slept!

When morning came, David the refreshed fugitive awoke. To mind came right away the horrors of his situation. Vs 1: "Lord, how they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me." He can mention them by name, no, the list of those tormenting him is far too long. Many, "many are they who say of me, ‘There’s no help for him in God’" (vs 2). But as he wakes up, it’s not self-pity that overwhelms David, nor is it horror on account of what his son did to him, nor is it fear of what could happen today. The mood overwhelming David on this new day is one of confidence. Vs 3: "But You, O Lord, are a shield for me." It may just be that today Absalom and his ten thousands will attack David and seek to kill him, but David knows no fear: "You, O Lord, are a shield for me." Every soldier engaged in battle carried a shield with which to defend himself against the thrusts of the opponent’s sword. Shields came in different sizes and qualities, and the one soldier was better than the other in using the shield effectively. But David’s shield wasn’t made of leather or wood or metal, nor was David’s shield one he had to manipulate himself. His shield, he confesses, is "You, O Lord". That was his conviction after he awakened from his sleep that morning: God would protect him from harm today, never mind how the day’s events would unfold.

Was David not bothered, then, that he had to leave the city in disgrace? Certainly, the glory that belonged to his kingship was gone. But see what he says: David’s glory isn’t his kingship; his glory is his God. If God, then, wished to restore the throne to him, well and good. But meanwhile, David had what’s really glorious, and that’s God.

See too how David describes God at the end of vs 3: the Lord is "the One who lifts up my head." In disgrace David had left the city, weeping, head covered and barefoot, as the book of Samuel tells us (15:30). But here there’s no sense of disgrace. He’s sure this morning: the Lord lifts up his head, lets him walk in confidence. Vs 4: David has cried to the Lord and God has heard him. It’s something of which he’s sure, and that’s why is so at peace in his heart. He’d gone to bed, even though Absalom was even now making his plans to destroy him. He’d fallen asleep, even though he knew so well what tomorrow could bring. He slept in peace, and at the appointed time awoke. And all of it together reflects the confidence belonging to faith, the conviction that he was absolutely safe in the hands of the Lord his God.

And as to what the new day will bring, note vs 6: "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around." He’d heard the report of the spies from the city: Absalom was gathering "all Israel" (17:11) to fight king David. "Ten thousands", says our translation, but the term refers literally to myriads. Numbers don’t count anymore; David’s not afraid, no matter how many would attack him.

And if that confidence isn’t enough, see how David ends his psalm. Despite having so many enemies, he’s captured in the psalm a sense of the peace and quietness present in his heart. Now that confidence goes on the offensive. Vs 7: "Arise, O Lord; Save me, O my God!" That phrase "Arise, O Lord" is borrowed from Moses’ words in Num 10. Moses had used these words to call upon the Lord to lead Israel’s armies in battle against the enemies that threatened the people in the desert. David uses that same phrase, and with that phrase calls upon his God to join in the battle against the armies of Absalom, yes, to lead in that battle. And even as he calls upon God to lead in that battle, David already testifies of his conviction that the victory is sure. Vs 7: "You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly." The picture is of a street fighter who has smashed the face of the enemy; the jaw is broken, the teeth are knocked out. And that means the end of the battle; David’s enemies will attack no more. The day’s still young, David just awakened, but he’s sure: "salvation belongs to the Lord", and therefore David feels safe, confident, fears no evil.

Yes, we envy David’s peace of mind, his quiet certainty, his security. In the face of the troubles that beset us, we’d love so desperately to go to bed and sleep instead of tossing and turning in our restlessness, love to wake up refreshed. But it isn’t so…. So David’s experience in this psalm strikes us as unrealistic in the brokenness of this life.... That brings us to our second point:

Is David’s quietness real, beloved? Are we to take literally that David, after having gone through the humiliation of publicly being chased out of Jerusalem by his own son, after having been told that Absalom was gathering all Israel to fight against him – are we to take literally that David lay down and slept, and then awoke without fear of tens of thousands attacking him?? It sounds unreal, beloved, but yes, we are to take literally what David writes. The confidence and the calmness characterizing this psalm is real, very real. Recall that the Lord had promised precisely this calmness in His covenant promises to Israel. Lev 26:6: "I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid."

But then again, that raises questions for us. For we realize that this gift of peace and quietness was promised upon covenant obedience, doing the will of God. Yet exactly there is where David failed. In fact, in the affair with Bathsheba David blatantly transgressed God’s law, sinned. And the result was, said Nathan the prophet, that God would raise up adversity for David from within his own house (II Sam 12:11). That his own son chased David off the throne and out of the city was his own fault; he’d brought this horrid tragedy upon himself! That being the case, we’re the more perplexed about the peace and the quietness captured in Ps 3. There’s trouble in our lives, and right away we think in terms of: what have we done to deserve this? And our conscience accuses us, and that’s part of the reason why we’re so restless and fearful of what’s going to happen. How much more, then, we’re sure, ought David to be restless and uncertain about the future! But No, he’s quiet, at ease. And we wonder: how’s it possible?!

What it is, brothers and sisters, is that David worked with the good news of God about the forgiveness of sins. Yes, he was guilty of sin, and therefore deserving of the anger of holy God. But David had also repented of his sin, come to God with a broken and contrite heart. Think of Ps 51. And because he acknowledged his sin and confessed it before God, the Lord had forgiven his iniquity, and so that sin was gone. Certainly, David still had to live with the results of his sin. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that David could sing in Ps 32: "Blessed is the man whose trespass is forgiven, Whose sin is covered in the sight of heaven." Absalom might chase him out of the city, and that may happen because of David’s own sins of years ago, but the fact remains that David knows himself forgiven.

Notice what David says in vs 4: "I cried to the Lord with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill." That’s a reference to prayer, to prayer directed to God’s "holy hill", Mt Zion, the place to which David had moved the ark and the tabernacle of the Lord. That’s where the Lord lived amongst His people, that’s where the sacrifices were performed, where the gospel of salvation, of forgiveness of sins through the blood of Another was proclaimed in Israel. This was a gospel not kept at a distance, not applicable for David-the-sinner; no, this was a gospel true for David too. I cried to the Lord, says David, and "He heard me!"

It’s not without significance either that David uses the particular word we find at the end of our text. "I lay down and slept," he says; "I awoke" –and then adds– "for the Lord sustained me." The particular word translated for us as "sustain" was well known in Israel in the context of the forgiveness of sins. That is: the word was used to describe the action done by a sinner when he presented his sacrifice in the tabernacle, namely, the sinner laid his hand on the head of the offered animal (cf 1:4, etc). That action symbolized that sins were lifted from the sinner and transferred to the animal; hence that animal –loaded as it now was with sin– would be killed. And the sinner, we understand, would go free; he was forgiven. That’s the word David used to describe what the Lord is doing with him. That is: the Lord God forgave his sins and for that reason God let David sleep and awaken at the appointed time, sustained him. What’s conveyed in our text is a God who cares for David, who gives sleep on the basis of forgiveness of sins.

There, brothers and sisters, we have also the cause of the peace and the quietness that pervaded David’s heart in the morning described in Ps 3. The calmness, the security filling David’s words in this psalm are rooted in the promises of God to His obedient covenant children. God had promised peace, security – that was Lev 26. Well, here was a child of God, sinful –O yes!– but sorry for sin, repentant of sin, and therefore –by God’s gracious promise– a beneficiary of the peace and the quiet God had promised in the covenant.

The thing is this, brothers and sisters: God’s curse on sin is very real, and therefore David was absolutely deserving of the shame he endured as a result of Absalom’s bid for the throne. But God in the tabernacle had promised forgiveness of sins through the blood of Another, and sins forgiven are sins removed as far as east from west extends. That Other hadn’t yet come in the days of David, but the Lord God already forgave the sins of His Old Testament children because the Savior would one day come and pay for sin. In due time the Christ came, and He received the curse that David had earned for himself through his sin with Bathsheba. Many rose up against Jesus of Nazareth, yes, the entire population of Jerusalem cried out with one voice for His crucifixion. And the Lord God was no shield for Him, did not in Gethsemane or on Calvary lift up Jesus’ head. The Savior could cry out to the Lord for help, but God did not hear Him. In the darkness of the night in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus could not lay down and sleep; He was rather so terrorized by the coming horrors of the cross that He cried out His anguish and sweated great drops as of blood. Not afraid of ten thousands of people?? "Please," He cried out to the Father, "let this cup pass from Me!"

But it was the holy will of God Most High not to let the cup pass Jesus by. On the cross the wrath of God against sin was poured out on Jesus Christ, and though darkness settled on the land Jesus was granted no opportunity to lay down His head and sleep. In the frightful darkness of the three hours on the cross, Jesus had to face the horrors of God’s holy anger, and there came for Him on Calvary no relief. David in Ps 3 exudes an inner quietness and security, and that, beloved, is because Christ on Calvary had no peace! David’s sins, our sins, were piled onto Him, and such was the resulting anguish that the Son of God cried out His hurt: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?!" But the result was this that none of God’s own are ever forsaken by God again! "It is finished", cried out the Son on the cross, and then, then Jesus gave Himself into the hands of His Father. He died, was buried, slept. And see: at the appointed time He awoke, for the Lord sustained Him. He’d paid for sin, and therefore was reconciled to the Father so that the peace of God was eternally His. He awoke from His sleep of death, and had nothing, nothing to fear as He stepped out of His grave that Easter morning. The soldiers of the Sanhedrin, the people of Israel, yes, the devil and his hosts might all come to attack, but Jesus Christ had no reason to be afraid of tens of thousands who’ve set themselves against Him. He’d paid for sin, and therefore the victorious Christ could be at peace, total peace.

There, beloved, there’s the reason why David in Ps 3 could have that peace also. The mood of our psalm unreal, given the circumstances in which David found himself? O, to our human, sinful minds it surely is. But David the sinner believed the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins as proclaimed in the tabernacle on Mt Zion. David the sinner believed the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Another, believed that through the work of the coming Savior sinners like David would be reconciled to God. And if reconciled, then the promises of the covenant would be given again too! And what were those promises? Yes, they included peace in the land so that God’s people could lie down and none make them afraid. And they included also: "five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight" (Lev 26:8). That being the promise, it was no wonder that David could say in vs 6 of our psalm that he wouldn’t be afraid of 10,000 people who attacked him! David was simply working with the promises God had given so many years earlier, promises that God for Jesus’ sake would definitely carry out for all His faithful covenant children. You see, David took God’s Word and promises at face value, and that’s why exuded the peace and quietness captured in Ps 3!

The lesson for us, brothers and sisters, is now not hard to find. For over the years since David wrote Ps 3, the Lord God hasn’t changed any. He’s still the same covenant God, promising the same peace and security to His covenant children. No, that’s not to say that things will go in our lives the way we like them to go. God promised peace, quietness of heart to His people who keep His covenant. David sinned, was forgiven, but had to suffer the consequences of his sins nevertheless. Yet while (in human terms) his world was falling apart around him, David was at peace, quiet. For God, according to promise, gave His sinful, forgiven child the inner peace promised in the covenant.

So too for us today. We’ve sinned, all of us, over the days and the years, and therefore are certainly worthy of the worst of suffering. But the God of the covenant has given the Christ, and so there’s forgiveness for the repentant, forgiveness so that we’re reconciled to God and therefore need fear nothing. Christ has died, and therefore, beloved, we may have peace. Christ has died, has paid for sin, and therefore peace is ours. See there the promise of the covenant for you and me today! In the words of the Form for Holy Baptism (we’ve heard it so often): "God the Father ... establishes an eternal covenant of grace with us," and that means that "He adopts us for His children and heirs, and promises to provide us with all good and avert all evil or turn it to our benefit." Talk about cause for peace, quietness of soul!!

Again, that does not mean that all will go the way we would like things to go. David on the morning of Ps 3 was so confident about the day; he could sleep in peace and not be afraid of tens of thousands because the Lord was his shield. But before the day was out, David was heart-broken on account of the death of his dear son Absalom…. David experienced what we experience: though the promises of God are so rich and so comforting, brokenness and sorrow continue to characterize this earthly life – and will continue to characterize it till Christ returns on the clouds of heaven. Then all pain and tears will be taken away in perfection, and all crying and sighing also. For that day we long, earnestly.

Meanwhile, we believe –in the strength of the Lord- that the peace God has promised in His covenant to the children redeemed by Jesus’ blood is ours already. So, when we lie on our beds at night and sleep will not come as soon as we’d like, we’ll remind ourselves of the promises of God and we’ll meditate on the redemption He’s worked in Jesus Christ to pay for our sins, and we’ll thank our Father-in-Christ for the blessings He showers upon us. And the peace of God that passes understanding will calm our troubled hearts…, so that we can sleep in peace. Amen.